With two rabbits clenched between his jaws, he had them pinched up by the feet. Out again. He knew he was best at this, in terms of his entire skillset. In fact, it was all he knew. The wild called him so desperately then, and now it had ingrained itself into him. A wild he found, and a wild he learned how to kill and mold. Wild that he belonged to. Clamping his jaws tighter together to prevent one from slipping from his teeth, he tensed his shoulders up and tried to adjust his jaw.
Even if he was going to talk, it wasn't like he could. Looking around, he snorted his nose and slowed his stride. Someone was probably here, somewhere. The isolation he adapted was more familiar than this.
Hello. I am going to make this alittle before the bear since that thread is still ongoing.
Gunnar was moving through the pack lands his body aching in places he hadn't realized he had. Another counterpart of age. A smell of blood and he followed it only to find Bonnie at the other end, with two rabbits in his maw. A small smile a twinkling of steel eyes.
Hello Bonnie another successful hunt I see.
He was not blind to the boy constantly hunting. The way he didn't much like the pack borders, but he did always return to the fold. IT was nice to see him and Gunnar wished that he could show this side to all the pack members. Perhaps in time. Though Gunnar feared it wouldn't be before he was gone and would his death cause the boy to return to his ways.
Silent steps pushed him forward, and it had only been once he was beside Gunnar did he stop. Releasing pressure from his mouth, a singular hares foot was allowed to fall until the thud of its body hit his ears, affirmed after by a glaze of his eyes. Why he'd gone out of his way to get another and bring it to Gunnar, he didn't know. He thought about it, and in a stomach churning way, he bit back the thought that he'd done it because of him. A lone cry of remembrance, a tick in his shoulder and a past that wouldn't just leave. He pushed it back, and then he wouldn't think about it.
"Here. It's yours." After gently blinking his eyes, he calmly held his head down while holding the other hare against the ground. This way, he could have a loose mouth and speak.
Gunnar was surprised and pleased when the youth dropped the hair at his feet. The boy was growing into a man in front of his very eyes and he found he adored it. This one could go far, if he could just remember that not everyone was out to get him. Though Tauris bless her heart. Had seemed that way. She had just been sorry and out on her luck as well. And it was hard to forget mistreatments during that time.
Thank you. Did you have fun while you hunted? Any places where we could have a group hunt? We should start filling more caches before winter comes. It will be here before we know it. It always is.
And his mouth went dry at the thought. Would he survive another winter. Even he wasn't sure.
"No," he'd only started to respond to the last half of his speech. "Been looking by where all them ferns grow." His path had taken him north a lot, scoping out around the overture downs, but never travelling off from it. He'd gone west at some point too, but little was there any reason to leave Kvarsheim. Since he'd been here, he'd hardly done so. Why should he? To himself, he'd decided he'd go out again after this. Leave to stalk down more.
"Haven't smelled much."
They had deer within their own territory, but at what point was hunting in their own territory a bad idea? Should they have done so too much, they could wash out their prey as it attempted to flee from their presence.
He'd find better, if they didn't first.
Gunnsr listened as the boy spoke. Laying out where he'd been and what he'd done. He was doing well by their pack. He didn't understand the issue between he and Tauris and it saddened him greatly.
Thank you for your time and effort for our little family. You are doing well. Is there anything else you wish to learn? If i can't help you learn it, perhaps i can find someone to teach you.
Maybe if he'd had the same amount of approval from a father when his legs could hardly stand and his head was soft, things would have turned out differently.
With a still tail and a twitching ear, his head turned to his right while he thought. It took a moment, and it seemed as if he was not getting anywhere. When his head turned back, it would not have been surprising if he spat out a no. Instead, he stared and expected a no from Fadir. "You, uh, got sparring?" Wouldn't kill him to ask. Even if it did, he was ready to of it regardless.
Gunnar didn't know what the youth had been through becore coming to them. But he hoped he could ease some of the past and show him what care was for however long he could.
hmm.
Gunnar gave a nod. I know how to spar and also Ulfhild. She is our guardian or warden. Strong girl. She can teach you much and probably better than I. I believe Inkeri may know how to as well. And i hear tell that one of our allies swiftcurrent has formidable fighters as well.
"Ulfhild, huh?" The same woman who readily stood by Tauris to rip his tonsils out? Yeah, she would be good for trying to do it again, wouldn't she? "And Inkeri? And these allies Swiftcurrent, they've got fighters too?" Options. He was given options, and he sifted through them all one by one, thinking over them in careful, unmade, calm decision.
Well, it seemed he had quite the array to choose from. Maybe Ulfhild. Maybe this Inkeri. Maybe this strange pack, where he'd be alone and not under the eye of anyone he knew so he could focus; though, little did he care about if they did see, and if they did watch. "K." A gentle nod. Then, he'd learn with one of them. He'd improve, he'd get better, and he'd continue to do so until he fell.
Soft. Too soft.
In a reared head, he shifted the spare rabbit below his feet to his front, and his entire tone came to a shift after his face offered a widened form of expression. "HMPH! But know I ain't doin' this for anyone but me! I'm doing it for myself and no one but myself, so don't you go gettin' any ideas that I'm going to turn into some soft puppy. And I can't fight you, I'd whoop your ass, old man!" He imagined his paw striking his face, and his wrinkly old bones hitting the ground. Bonnie imagined a shock wave, and the funeral that would come if his breath even touched Gunnar's face. Gods, he wasn't a MURDERER! Stupid Gunnar. Roughly leaning down to grip the extra rabbit, he gripped it in his teeth and went to highly trot himself off.
What bonnie failed to realize was that Ulfhild had been doing what she was supposed too. Guard the pack. She had protected and kept him away until a leader had assessed what was going on. Yes this meant tauris too. She was a second in command after all.
There were many names that Gunnar had given him. He hoped he'd find one to learn under. Perhaps the male Arric who was bigger than anyone in the entire allies. Or maybe gentle Inkeri who was born to be a fighter, raised to be one.
Suddenly Gunnar let loose a growl. One warning that was all he was given, before he'd strike. It was savage and it was loud and it proved that he was not to be trifled with.
It is fine to do something for yourself. But you do not threaten me, Bonnie. It will not end well for you. I have fought wolves bigger than you and lived to tell the tale.
Coming to a stop, his eyes locked hard onto Gunnar's. Fadir's.
In the midst of the suns beating heat, he felt a cold chill break through his coat and glaze over his skin. Clenching the rabbit in his mouth, the stalker fell quiet. Just him, Gunnar, and the breeze along their spines.
Perhaps Bonnie had forgotten here, for a moment. That Gunnar was no Westwater. Bonnie meant it true, when he said it. To him, he was no sparring partner. No option to pick from. To Bonnie, he would surely cause unneeded injury to a lupine in no need of fights in his age. Little did he consider that it could have been taken as a threat. Then so be it.
Wasn't like he could fix it.
Then, he turned his back to him, and in a loosened jaw to give one final response, his eyes on the ground and ears pointed towards it, "Whatever." His voice softened again, as he did not know what to do with it any longer. But he picked no fight.
Gunnar lifted his head a fraction of an onch higher. His eyes glittering dangerously. But Bonnie quickly averted his gaze. Though Gunnar had seen for a moment confusion perhaps.
You must think before you speak. I know well what you meant, Bonnie. However, in this area it can be perceived as a threat. Thank you for thinking of me kindly and not wishing to hurt me.
Gunnar shifted a hitch in his hip and a pain in his skull. Realizing he probably should go take a nap and hating his body for betraying him.
Thank you for the rabbit. I will speak with Swiftcurrent about sending onw of their wolves to behin helping you.